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YAZ BEAKS UP A DOUBLEPLAY |
THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO, PART 6 ...
"THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM"
The Yankees
pound Jim Lonborg
June
13, 1967 ... The New York Yankees got 12 hits
off Jim Lonborg and 11 of them were by left-handed batters. They
pinned the second defeat of the year on Lonborg, 5 to 3. The Red
Sox had the power game going with back to back home runs from Joe Foy and Tony
Conigliaro, off Fred Talbot in the second inning. Foy hit his home run into the
screen in left-center. Conigliaro hit his on a 1-2 pitch, which left Talbot
standing on the mound and scratching his head. But nothing of consequence
happened again until the eighth-inning, when the Red Sox tried unsuccessfully to
mount another comeback.
With Dooley Womack on the mound, and two outs, Mike Andrews walked and Carl
Yastrzemski singled to right, pushing Andrews over to third. George Scott next
hit a easy ground ball down the third-base line, but the ball took a crazy hop
over the head of Charlie Smith for single. Joe Foy hit into a force play that
killed any Red Sox threat.
Lonborg didn't have trouble with the four right-handed hitters of the
Yankees, with only one of them getting a hit. The Yankees got 10 singles in
their 12 hits. They had two doubles, with nobody coming close to hitting the
ball out of the park.
Lonborg got through the first three innings, giving up three singles, but the
Yankees tied the game in the fourth. Joe Pepitone was hit by a pitch and Steve
Whitaker singled him over to third on a hit to right-field. After Elston Howard
popped out, Tom Tresh, who was 0-27 going into the game, singled over second for
a run and Whitaker headed to third. He scored on Charlie Smith's long fly ball
to center, tying up the game at 2 to 2.
New York scored two more times in the fifth on another series of singles.
Horace Clarke singled to center and Ruben Amaro hit a line drive that was tagged
for a doubleplay, at Joe Foy. But the ball went off his glove over to Rico
Petrocelli who was able to get Amaro at first, with Clark sitting on second
base. Joe Pepitone, trying to pull away from a high pitch, accidentally tapped
it toward third. Lonborg came off the mound, but his throw was to second base
side of first and Pepitone was safe with another single. Whitaker next lined a
single to center for a run and Pepitone went to third, scoring on Howard's fly
ball to center field for a 4 to 2 advantage. In the seventh inning, the Yankees
put together two doubles by Pepitone and Tresh for another run.
Dick O'Connell told the Boston Boosters Club during the day, that the Sox
probably wouldn't stay in Boston unless they got a new stadium. The luncheon was
at the Hotel Somerset in downtown Boston. |
